Dear Mr. Buteau:
First, thank you for covering this highly important issue at Biscayne Landing. However, your opening graph and the ensuing headline to the article " City: Developers must pay for using soil at site" minimizes the seriousness of the dumping that has occurred.
The 194,000 cubic yards of dumped materials are not "soil." The dumped materials are contaminated wastes. By definition soils are natural materials, with at least some organic material. ( See Wikipedia, among other definitions.)
The developer states that the materials are about 30 % Slag. The documents submitted to DERM and the EQCB include 3 pages of information entitled " Hanson Slag Cement, MSDS Material Safety Data Sheet".
Under Federal Law this stuff is defined to be a "hazardous substance" with delayed health effects. ( CERCLA/superfund, section 311 & 312) [ See Section XV ( mislabeled on the last page of the Hanson info as Section V- Other Regulatory Information)
I listened carefully to the recording of the October 29, 2013 City Council meeting posted on the City's webpage. Everything that Joe Celestine and Frank Wolland said was absolutely correct. The wastes should not be allowed to stay on site. They should be removed. This environmental degradation should not be allowed to occur.
DERM has, once again, has showed incompetence in dealing with the issues here. After all, EPA identified DERM as one of the PRPs ( Potentially Responsible Parties, liable for the full clean-up costs ) in the creation of the Munisport Superfund site. One has to question why DERM would authorize the use of wastes before ever testing them at this environmentally sensitive location close to the residents of Highland Village and local schools.
Very truly yours,
Maureen Brody Harwitz
Executive Director, Munisport Dump Coalition
EPA Region IV TAG Recipient, 1989-1999
Showing posts with label Munisport. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Munisport. Show all posts
Friday, November 08, 2013
Monday, September 30, 2013
Munisport/Biscayne Landing Boondoggle. By Geniusofdespair
BE AWARE: The mayor of North Miami Lucie Tondreau, works for the developer.
From Lawyer and Longtime Activist on this Issue Maureen Harwitz:
From Lawyer and Longtime Activist on this Issue Maureen Harwitz:
On September 4, 2013 without the knowledge or authorization of the North Miami City Council, Stephen Johnson, City manager, filed a petition with the Biscayne Landing developers, on behalf of the City of North Miami, to allow the violation of Chapter 24, Miami Dade County law, and allow 300,000 cubic yards of industrial Wastes to be dumped into the groundwater and fill the rock pits at Biscayne Landing.And of all people, it looks like Former Mayor Joe Celestin might actually be a hero on this one. Years ago he got a mortgage from the developer Michael Swerdlow, maybe they are on the outs now. In the Miami Herald:
The industrial wastes to be used are characterized by CERCLA/superfund sections 311 & 312 as a "hazardous substance" with delayed health effects.
Samples of the wastes, already being stockpiled at the property, reveal a witches brew of chemicals with exceedingly high levels of aluminum,as well as arsenic, and other contaminants that cause water pollution.
The deeper levels of flowing groundwater at the property move out into Biscayne Bay affecting aquatic organisms, fish and ultimately other wildlife.
Shockingly, Wilbur Mayorga, DERM Chief, argued on behalf of the request to allow a variance to the law that protects the groundwater from discharges causing pollution; and authorized the pollution and violation of the law.
In short, the Munisport dump has re-opened. Once, again as in 1975, with DERM'S approval.
“My job is to protect Chapter 24 as the city’s consultant,” Celestin said.
Jeb Bush and Joe Celestin - yes he is Black and a Republican.
He said that if there had not been a groundwater-cleaning system in place at the site since June, the fill material would not have been accepted at all. But even with the system in place, the health risk is too high for the former North Miami mayor and certified landfill operator and builder.
“If you contaminate the water, you contaminate everything else. And I don’t want to do that, to expose the health and safety of the residents,” Celestin said.
He issued a stop-work order in March and no fill material has been brought to the site since, but there is still material at the site.
Celestin recommends that the material be removed, but he added later that the cost could be in the millions — $5 to $10 million. It includes not just removal of the material, but also its storage.
“The material must go to a fill that accepts contaminated material,” Celestin said after a presentation he made to the council on his and the county’s findings at the site.
Monday, March 26, 2012
Here is one Angry Developer who didn't get his way! By Geniusofdespair
And the beat goes on.
Link to video.
After the North Miami City Council rejected his RFP on March 13th, Developer Michael Swerdlow didn't go quietly. I wrote about this deal a few weeks ago.
This video shows one angry developer with a lot to say. What does a developer always do when faced with something he/she doesn't like? They threaten to sue of course. I think Swerdlow needed the right lobbyist. What happened to Clifford Schulman or his other lobbyist, Ron Book?
Swerdlow repeatedly asks the Mayor why he voted against his project...maybe the $500,000 slush fund talk circulating in North Miami had something to do with it? Or was it the money to Councilwoman Marie Steril's charity (who abstained from voting)? Perhaps it was the $5 million payment that Councilman Marcellus asked about (to an organization the councilman championed)? I think the Mayor was in his rights to torpedo the development if he felt something wasn't kosher. And, Councilman Marcellus: Are you nuts?
Link to video.
After the North Miami City Council rejected his RFP on March 13th, Developer Michael Swerdlow didn't go quietly. I wrote about this deal a few weeks ago.
This video shows one angry developer with a lot to say. What does a developer always do when faced with something he/she doesn't like? They threaten to sue of course. I think Swerdlow needed the right lobbyist. What happened to Clifford Schulman or his other lobbyist, Ron Book?
Swerdlow repeatedly asks the Mayor why he voted against his project...maybe the $500,000 slush fund talk circulating in North Miami had something to do with it? Or was it the money to Councilwoman Marie Steril's charity (who abstained from voting)? Perhaps it was the $5 million payment that Councilman Marcellus asked about (to an organization the councilman championed)? I think the Mayor was in his rights to torpedo the development if he felt something wasn't kosher. And, Councilman Marcellus: Are you nuts?
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Jimbo's Closing and Swerdlow Proposal in North Miami Rejected. By Geniusofdespair
Blogger Stephanie Kienzle tells me that the Swerdlow plan for Biscayne Landing/Munisport that I reported on March 8th was rejected by the North Miami Council: "North Miami City Council voted NO to Swerdlow. Blynn was the lone supporter, Steril didn't vote."
Thursday, March 08, 2012
The North Miami Ongoing Boondoggle. By Geniusofdespair
Broward County Commissioner John Rodstrom, who opposed the port deal, still distrusts Swerdlow and contends that no government is a match for the developer.
This link will take you to the latest version of the Biscayne Landing (a.k.a. Munisport) Lease between Oleta Partners, LLC (Michael Swerdlow) and the City of North Miami. Talk about leaving your options open, look at this paragraph about gambling. It appears everyone wants in on that gaming action.
| Michael Swerdlow & Fish |
Broward New Times Reporter Bob Norman reported on one of Swerdlow's other deals:
"When then-Pompano Mayor Bill Griffin was supporting the controversial International Swimming Hall of Fame project in his city in 2002, I found out that ISHF developer Michael Swerdlow had gotten the mayor a job at Turner Construction, the company lined up to build the project. Here's the story I wrote at the time, Swimming In Trouble. To me. it was a clear case of unlawful compensation, but Satz didn't prosecute. The terrible project, however, was killed and Griffin was ousted by voters at the polls. The Miami Herald cited the scandal and "Swimming In Trouble" as the reason why."In the same article Norman said:
He has a history of attaching his deals to politicians' livelihoods. You may recall the infamous 1997 Port Everglades deal in which Swerdlow sold 271 acres to Broward County for $120 million, about double the price that county's appraisals showed for the raw land, much of it swamp.And (this is the worst):
Broward County Commissioner John Rodstrom, who opposed the port deal, still distrusts Swerdlow and contends that no government is a match for the developer. Rodstrom recalls that Swerdlow's lobbyist, Ron Book, offered his private firm work as well. Rodstrom declined the offer, which Swerdlow insists Book made without his knowledge. "Book did it, and at the time, I wasn't doing anything in Broward County," Swerdlow explains. "He was trying to do something for Rodstrom."
Sunday, March 04, 2012
Inspector General Chris Mazzella's Report on Landfill Money Spent (Wasted?). By Geniusofdespair
| Swerdlow is not beating around the bush this time...he doesn't want to pay for the landfill cleanup this second time around. He sold his interest to Biscayne Landing the first time he got this development years ago and believe it or not North Miami is giving him a second chance. Stupid North Miami. Coincidentally, this article about the landfill was in today's paper. |
Inspector General Chris Mazzella's report counts as uncovering a boondoggle in my book. I took this issue regarding the Landfill Funds to Former County Commissioner Jimmy Morales years ago, maybe 2003, that is how long I have been following the money.
Quickly, to recap, I called Homestead City Manager and Morales about Landfill Closure funds (it is on your tax bill) going to North Miami. I told them the DEVELOPER had agreed at meetings to pay for the cleanup of the Munisport site (I went to meetings, it was part of the RFP) however North Miami was STILL trying to tap county funds for the developer. When Morales and Homestead City Manager complained to County Manager Burgess about the limited funds all going to North Miami, instead of stopping the grant money to North Miami, Burgess found other funds for the City of Miami and Homestead landfills which were in line for that money. Burgess did some convoluted dealing that you know cost us ALL more money in the end. The money to North Miami was a gift and here it is hitting us in the face. It is my opinion that Attorney for Biscayne Landing Clifford Schulman was virtually running the City of North Miami at the time.
Following is an excerpt (this link takes you to the full report on the 3 landfills) from the IG report on North Miami's former landfill Munisport (now known as Biscayne Landing):
At the time of the second amendment, North Miami had already contracted with a group of developers—the Swerdlow Group, Boca Developers, and Biscayne Landing, LLC—to develop the Munisport site. The development included commercial and residential end uses to the property that necessarily required that the landfill be closed and the groundwater remediated. While North Miami was the legal grantee of the $31 million in landfill closure funds, the developer group (its successors and assigns) was the de facto grantee of the County’s funds.
Disbursements from the escrow account are based on contractor draw requests. These requests are forwarded to PWWM’s bond engineer, who is responsible for approving such requests. The bond engineer uses a Schedule of Values (SOV) as a basis to review and approve project costs. The SOV shows work unit descriptions; work unit payment bases; work unit costs; estimated number of work units; total work unit costs; and total project cost. The SOV was agreed upon by PWWM, the bond engineer, North Miami, and the contractor’s engineer of record. Disbursements from the escrow account need an authorized signature from both the County and North Miami. Pursuant to the grant, escrow account disbursements should go to North Miami, who in turn should pay the contractor that is performing the work. However, because the contractor performing the work was not retained by the City, but instead by the developer group that held the development rights to the land, the grant funds were disbursed from the escrow account directly to the developer.
Landfill Audit Report a Summary. By Geniusofdespair
ABSTRACT — FINAL AUDIT REPORT BY THE INSPECTOR GENERAL IG10-53
This audit focused on County Landfill Grants awarded to the three subject cities to close landfills located within their geographical area. The framework for the Landfill Grants was established in 2004 by the Miami-Dade County Board of County Commissioners (BCC) in its adoption of Resolution R-244-04 and in its acceptance of an accompanying report. Grant funding was derived from a $75 million bond issuance in 2005.
Our report has 7 findings and 11 recommendations. Our findings include comments on PWWM operating practices and its administration of the Grants pursuant to adopted BCC resolutions, grant agreements, and PWWM procedures. Our report chronicles how PWWM, the County’s bond engineers, and the grant recipients (the cities of North Miami, Miami, and Homestead) administered the expenditure of grant monies through June 30, 2011.
The main finding of the OIG involves the lack of records maintained by two of the Grantees. The City of North Miami (Munisport) and the City of Homestead have not maintained grant-required books, records, and documents of grant fund expenditures. The required records would document that the ultimate recipient of grant funds, i.e., the entity or individual actually performing the work, used the grant funds to perform the work authorized by the grant agreement.
Another issue for the OIG is that the grant term requiring the inclusion of affidavits and releases of liens related to payments made under previous draw requests was not being followed on the Munisport Landfill closure project. In comparison, draw requests submitted on the Homestead Landfill closure project included the required affidavits and releases.
This audit focused on County Landfill Grants awarded to the three subject cities to close landfills located within their geographical area. The framework for the Landfill Grants was established in 2004 by the Miami-Dade County Board of County Commissioners (BCC) in its adoption of Resolution R-244-04 and in its acceptance of an accompanying report. Grant funding was derived from a $75 million bond issuance in 2005.
Our report has 7 findings and 11 recommendations. Our findings include comments on PWWM operating practices and its administration of the Grants pursuant to adopted BCC resolutions, grant agreements, and PWWM procedures. Our report chronicles how PWWM, the County’s bond engineers, and the grant recipients (the cities of North Miami, Miami, and Homestead) administered the expenditure of grant monies through June 30, 2011.
The main finding of the OIG involves the lack of records maintained by two of the Grantees. The City of North Miami (Munisport) and the City of Homestead have not maintained grant-required books, records, and documents of grant fund expenditures. The required records would document that the ultimate recipient of grant funds, i.e., the entity or individual actually performing the work, used the grant funds to perform the work authorized by the grant agreement.
Another issue for the OIG is that the grant term requiring the inclusion of affidavits and releases of liens related to payments made under previous draw requests was not being followed on the Munisport Landfill closure project. In comparison, draw requests submitted on the Homestead Landfill closure project included the required affidavits and releases.
Wednesday, December 07, 2011
Jim Mullin Has the Recipe for Success. By Geniusofdeapair
You might ask why would anyone try to sift through the ads. Well, I do because there is good local material inside. Somehow I missed a big story and so did the Miami Herald. Former Scam Artist/Mayor Joe Celestin is in charge of the cleanup at Biscayne Landing. OMG could anything be more stupid? He is making $19,500 a month supervising the decontamination of the site. He says: By next year we will have a clean site. Celestin always had a penchant for hyperbole/bullshit (I wish I could find the State Attorney's office close-out memo on him):
Attorney (John) Dellagloria scoffs at the notion that Biscayne Landing can be fully remediated in less than a year, as claimed by Celestin. “The site will be monitored for the next 20 years. There is no such thing as ‘the site will be cleaned up in nine months,’” says Dellagloria, a former North Miami city attorney. “The site is today as it will be tomorrow. Anyone who alleges or believes that there will be a brand-new world nine months from now has no grasp of the actual situation.”How did Joe Celestin get put in charge of anything in North Miami after his tenure as Mayor there? I didn't know about this idiocy until I picked up Mullin's paper. (Note to Jim: The ads aren't so bad. I am always amused by the photos that Denise Rubin places in her ads of herself. Note to readers: I call Biscayne Landing Munisport and have 15 posts on it.)
Monday, February 14, 2011
The Best Project in the WHOLE World, with Jobs, Jobs, Jobs is proposed for Biscayne Landing in North Miami. By Geniusofdespair
The Miami Herald said: "North Miami Development Team, the group that was in negotiations to acquire the note on the 193-acre North Miami site assigned it rights to Bay Vista Development Group, a newly formed company made up of Terra Group and Carlisle Development Group."
I looked up Bay Vista Development Group and the Manager is Pedro Martin. I looked up Terra Group and it is owned by Terra International Developments, LLC which is managed by Pedro Martin.
Bay Vista has hired Book to lobby for them. North Miami Development Team has been sending out fliers to residents. They are not a PAC. North Miami Development Team, LLC is managed by North Miami, LLC. North Miami, LLC has no manager or officers just Carlton Fields attorney Jay Steinman as a registering agent. Why are they hiding names behind Corporations? Somehow in my search I came up with a William J. Green have no clue how he is connected to this "New" deal but on his KMACK, LLC web page is the name Jay A. Steinman.
I usually find that when my searches take me in circles I don't like what is going on. So, I will state officially: I don't like what is going on in North Miami at Biscayne Landing. I like to run like the wind away from what I am seeing in North Miami, it is looking to be a boondoggle unless someone gives some straight answers. And worse for getting a straight story, as I said above, the website mentioned in the Miami Herald article "Yes to North Miami Jobs" (not a registered PAC) is so full of bullshit it is incredible. It is Biscayne Landing all over again. When ever the promise is JOBS numero uno...look out. Some advice: Developers, just be up front. Stop sugar coating your affordable housing project. Be honest and don't make empty promises and maybe your project will fly in North Miami. The city already has been burned once with the Biscayne Landing bullshit, I remember Greenberg Traurig attorney Clifford Schulman pushing that one and it is a carbon copy of how you guys are pushing this one on the website.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Biscayne Landing Update. By Geniusofdespair
Biscayne Landing was an unregulated garbage dump and superfund site. It has never been cleaned up as far as I know. Formerly known as munisport the property remains North Miami's boondoggle. It has a failed high rise development, two twin towers, on it and has gone through plan after plan after plan. Here is the latest.
Biscayne Landing Update written by North Miami Councilman Scott Galvin:
The Biscayne Landing saga has continued over the holidays. As of this email January 13th, the scenario is quite fluid.
You might recall a heated meeting was held on December 15th when the North Miami Development Team sought Council approval for their retail project at the site. Dozens of residents spoke against the plans. The Council listened and set strict standards the developer must meet to be considered further.
We said that North Miami Development Team must show they have $16.5 million to pay the city up front, as well as $50,000 to cover legal fees. We also sent a default notice to the bank related to a $1 million past-due payment.
Since then, Carlisle Development Group, an affordable housing developer, has sent the City a check for $50,000 and a letter attesting that they have $16.5 million in the bank. Carlisle is apparently planning to be part of the NM Development Team.
It is my opinion, however, that the City should not consider the Carlisle documents as "transferable" to NM Development without a public discussion and vote by the Council. I've spoken to the City Manager and Matthew Greer of Carlisle to say that quite clearly. I will not support any agreements that are not clearly, publicly, and transparently approved by the Council.
If a deal isn't approved by January 24th, the note to the land is scheduled to be auctioned off by Credit Suisse.
Biscayne Landing Update written by North Miami Councilman Scott Galvin:
The Biscayne Landing saga has continued over the holidays. As of this email January 13th, the scenario is quite fluid.
You might recall a heated meeting was held on December 15th when the North Miami Development Team sought Council approval for their retail project at the site. Dozens of residents spoke against the plans. The Council listened and set strict standards the developer must meet to be considered further.
We said that North Miami Development Team must show they have $16.5 million to pay the city up front, as well as $50,000 to cover legal fees. We also sent a default notice to the bank related to a $1 million past-due payment.
Since then, Carlisle Development Group, an affordable housing developer, has sent the City a check for $50,000 and a letter attesting that they have $16.5 million in the bank. Carlisle is apparently planning to be part of the NM Development Team.
It is my opinion, however, that the City should not consider the Carlisle documents as "transferable" to NM Development without a public discussion and vote by the Council. I've spoken to the City Manager and Matthew Greer of Carlisle to say that quite clearly. I will not support any agreements that are not clearly, publicly, and transparently approved by the Council.
If a deal isn't approved by January 24th, the note to the land is scheduled to be auctioned off by Credit Suisse.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Biscayne Landings Sinks and Stinks and civic opposition is still at a loss ... by gimleteye
New Times reports that Credit Suisse is within weeks of taking over the troubled North Miami development, Biscayne Landings, from failing Boca Developers. Boca supplied the middle end on the spectrum of condominium values, topped by now-failed Jorge Perez' Related Group in South Florida. We've written quite a lot about Biscayne Landings and its ambitious plans for 6,000 residences. The project started as a Superfund toxic waste dump called Munisport, whose odors still plague the area, to a part of the Swerdlow empire dominating North Miami politics, to its current, sad state where victims are everywhere; not the least of which, taxpayers and the environment.
Biscayne Landings, touted as an example of how to remediate environmental damage AND provide compatible urban infill balancing the needs of the economy and nature, should send policy makers shrieking from botched logic like parents grabbing children from a house on fire. But no such response appears anywhere. Instead: indifference and shrugged shoulders. Biscayne Landing should also trigger introspection about opposition strategies of the environmental movement. Snookered by the failure of laws to protect the environment, everyone is going to pay for Biscayne Landings but no one is going to take responsibility.
From a sunnier day--during the housing market bubble, Boca Developers boasts, "Biscayne Landing is a $3 billion mixed-use residential community and is a public/private venture being developed in cooperation with the City of North Miami. It is the vision of one of South Florida's largest and most respected development companies-- Boca Developers."
From another perspective, Boca Developers clogged local politics and the Gold Coast, too, with its cookie-cutter versions of paradise on the ocean. Written in the blinding sun of irrational exuberance that swept up the whole of Florida in unsustainable growth, its website claimes, "Boca Developers has become one of the most successful development companies in the southeastern unied States. It currently has a porfolio of over 16,000 residences with projected sales in excess of $10 billion."
In April, 2008, Boca CEO Brian Street said the company "would still pursue projects. ... The three-year residential downturn has compromised all of the projects planned or completed by Boca Developers in the last five years, Street told a reporter at an April 21 town hall meeting to discuss the developer's Biscayne Landing project in North Miami. Jeff Scott, Boca Developers' VP and project manager for Biscayne Landing, said up to a dozen projects could be returned to lenders." (Boca Developers want to give back projects, South Fl Business Journal, April 25, 2008)
Now, Biscayne Landings will vanish inside Credit Suisse's cavernous losses. "Too big to fail" Credit Suisse holds so many billions in losses, no one knows the real scope of the bank's solvency or insolvency as the case may be. Who knows how this pimple on the side of Credit Suisse's butt will emerge and in what form. But it is likely to emerge at some deep discount in a vulture's portfolio, waiting for return of the glue guns and sheet rock.
In the 1980's, there was plenty of civic opposition to the conversion of the former Munisport dump without a required clean-up, according to EPA rules, first. The civic opposition--waged by environmental groups like Tropical Audubon-- was steam-rollered as it would be throughout the housing asset bubble. The project, like so many thousands of others in Florida, jumped over environmental obstacles because of all the zeroes attached to the dollar signs.
Today, environmental groups are trying to wage common sense arguments against other equally ill-fated projects like FPL's new nuclear reactors planned at Turkey Point. Those will be a $20 billion mistake.
The groups are mired in any number of brush fires in the permitting struggle, but they are overwhelmed and out-gunned by hundreds of millions of dollars in "marketing costs" that FPL is already foisting on ratepayers. The latest: whether or not the federal government should grant FPL a right-of-way to use land in Everglades National Park for new power transmission lines. The company is pitting environmental groups against the public, that vociferously opposed the use of the US 1 corridor as an alternative.
Biscayne Landing is the abject example of failure from all sides and all directions. Is it possible to learn from our mistakes?
Biscayne Landings, touted as an example of how to remediate environmental damage AND provide compatible urban infill balancing the needs of the economy and nature, should send policy makers shrieking from botched logic like parents grabbing children from a house on fire. But no such response appears anywhere. Instead: indifference and shrugged shoulders. Biscayne Landing should also trigger introspection about opposition strategies of the environmental movement. Snookered by the failure of laws to protect the environment, everyone is going to pay for Biscayne Landings but no one is going to take responsibility.
From a sunnier day--during the housing market bubble, Boca Developers boasts, "Biscayne Landing is a $3 billion mixed-use residential community and is a public/private venture being developed in cooperation with the City of North Miami. It is the vision of one of South Florida's largest and most respected development companies-- Boca Developers."
From another perspective, Boca Developers clogged local politics and the Gold Coast, too, with its cookie-cutter versions of paradise on the ocean. Written in the blinding sun of irrational exuberance that swept up the whole of Florida in unsustainable growth, its website claimes, "Boca Developers has become one of the most successful development companies in the southeastern unied States. It currently has a porfolio of over 16,000 residences with projected sales in excess of $10 billion."
In April, 2008, Boca CEO Brian Street said the company "would still pursue projects. ... The three-year residential downturn has compromised all of the projects planned or completed by Boca Developers in the last five years, Street told a reporter at an April 21 town hall meeting to discuss the developer's Biscayne Landing project in North Miami. Jeff Scott, Boca Developers' VP and project manager for Biscayne Landing, said up to a dozen projects could be returned to lenders." (Boca Developers want to give back projects, South Fl Business Journal, April 25, 2008)
Now, Biscayne Landings will vanish inside Credit Suisse's cavernous losses. "Too big to fail" Credit Suisse holds so many billions in losses, no one knows the real scope of the bank's solvency or insolvency as the case may be. Who knows how this pimple on the side of Credit Suisse's butt will emerge and in what form. But it is likely to emerge at some deep discount in a vulture's portfolio, waiting for return of the glue guns and sheet rock.
In the 1980's, there was plenty of civic opposition to the conversion of the former Munisport dump without a required clean-up, according to EPA rules, first. The civic opposition--waged by environmental groups like Tropical Audubon-- was steam-rollered as it would be throughout the housing asset bubble. The project, like so many thousands of others in Florida, jumped over environmental obstacles because of all the zeroes attached to the dollar signs.
Today, environmental groups are trying to wage common sense arguments against other equally ill-fated projects like FPL's new nuclear reactors planned at Turkey Point. Those will be a $20 billion mistake.
The groups are mired in any number of brush fires in the permitting struggle, but they are overwhelmed and out-gunned by hundreds of millions of dollars in "marketing costs" that FPL is already foisting on ratepayers. The latest: whether or not the federal government should grant FPL a right-of-way to use land in Everglades National Park for new power transmission lines. The company is pitting environmental groups against the public, that vociferously opposed the use of the US 1 corridor as an alternative.
Biscayne Landing is the abject example of failure from all sides and all directions. Is it possible to learn from our mistakes?
Friday, January 30, 2009
Frank Wolland: What were you thinking? By Geniusofdespair
Michael Swerdlow again rears his ugly head in this saga of $270,000...to be continued when I can stop puking. And it is not just Frank, it is the people who are after him, that make me sick too...the campaign managers on the other side for instance. There is plenty of dirt and money from the Biscayne Landing deal to go around in North Miami that has touched a lot more people than just Frank. Let's see how the ethics investigation shakes out before we throw him under the bus.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
North Miami: Feud Between City Clerk and Mayor. By Geniusofdespair
“Creation of New Charter: The present charter of the City of North Miami is hereby repealed and replaced with a newly reorganized modern City Charter document, conforming with State law provisions, making stylistic changes, and deleting matters more properly covered by City ordinances.”
I imagine sparks will fly from now on between Burns and Wolland. At the heart of this feud: Biscayne Landing (I call it Munisport), the mega-development in North Miami that was suppose to cure all ills in the City. There is a perception in the City that the developer has showered “something” on certain government officials within the city. Who knows. Just talk? (Hit read more, good stuff follows)
I could not find a PAC by the name “Concerned Citizens of North Miami” registered in Miami Dade but Beverly Hilton says it is her PAC that put out this flyer.
Sunday, June 08, 2008
Biscayne Times Interview's North Miami Mayor. By Geniusofdespair
“It’s not going to be a mall. It’s going to be living streets within the community, more along the lines of a Las Olas or Main Street in Miami Lakes.”
I don't have a beef with Kevin, but hey, Mayor Burns watch what you say. Have you been to Miami Lakes Main Street lately? I have been there frequently over the years. Little by little I watched it die. It is now overrun with empty stores. It has one decent anchor: Victoria's Secret. Most of the other stores are closed at night or the windows have brown paper on them. The street is popular with teens but that is about it. The Miami Lakes Main Street appears to be a failure...for now.
I think banks are throwing good money after bad with this retail conversion at Biscayne Landing. I say, sit on it and let the dust settle. You need a reality check with this one! Retail is not an easy business. The other Riverfront Development in Ft. Launderdale that Boca Developers owns, was also Main Street-Like. It died. Look at the Bakery Center in South Miami. Retail could kill the goose.
P.S. Have the developers cleaned this former superfund site yet?
P.S.S. What is with the money for MOCA from Boca Developers? The company is in deep financial straits and you think they can really come up with 8 million for the museum expansion? If they have an extra pot of money laying around let them use it to clean the site of contaminants.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Should We Foot Anymore of the Bill for Biscayne Landing (Former Superfund Site) Cleanup by Geniusofdespair
NO! NO! NO! When Curtis Morgan reported today that the developers “could seek financial relief for overruns” the hair on the back of my neck stood up. We should not bail out this development anymore. I don’t have a short memory like the Herald.
NORTH MIAMI | BISCAYNE LANDING: Contaminated condo site gives up on sugar method
I was there during the bidding on the Munisport site, in the room!!! The developer chosen was suppose to pay for the cleanup knowing that $20 million would be kicked in. Watch Sally Heyman, she will try to get them more money at the request of Lobbyist/Lawyer Clifford Schulman. Here is the History again:
The County entered into an agreement involving a 20 million dollar grant from the county paid for by a solid waste department bond issue. We all pay $1 a year into a site cleanup fund.
Under the agreement, City of North Miami would receive 1 million dollars each year to assist in Munisport remediation and closure efforts. This was known to the all the developers who bid on the project: That this money was coming. They bid accordingly, knowing they might have to shoulder more cleanup costs.
This is what the bidders did NOT know: Much more money for cleanup would be coming. How do I know that the developers did not know this? I called one of the losing bidders and asked him. Had he known this, he said, his bid would have changed, however, that is water under the bridge.
In January 2004, the City Commission agreed to enter into a NEW agreement with the County, I believe it was to accept 49 million dollars (Curtis Morgan says $31 million), instead of of the 20 million already agreed on, which was to be used to clean up the landfill. With lots of lawyers involved, the new agreement would supercede the previous one. Rather than one million a year, the city would receive 3.6 million for the first 12 years. By the way, there are other contaminated sites waiting for money. This site has had more than its share.
Cleanup details:
They tried an experimental method underground, it didn’t work. Here is the truth about the DERM designed Biscayne Landing cleanup:
The developer has agreed (finally) to implement the originally approved remediation which involves pumping water out of the ground, treating it in conventional easily controlled above ground system. No water is "used" or wasted. North Miami Mayor Burns tried to suggest to me that pumping the contaminated leachate out of the ground is the same thing as pumping water out of the Biscayne Aquifer for drinking water supply. Obviously, it is not the same. Officials from the SFWMD were asked about this by the Mayor, and they explained that groundwater remediation is not the same as consumptive use and does not harm the water supply or cause salt intrusion. The treated leachate, if it is clean enough, could be returned to the ground, or it may go to the sewage treatment plant. The point is, it is not clean water being used, it is pollution being treated and any exposure pathway that would have affected sensitive organisms is interrupted.
Mayor Burns also told me: Derm was measuring in the wrong place.
The Truth: The point of compliance (where measurement would occur) was agreed upon before hand.
The idea was to make sure that groundwater passing by their experimental in-ground "reactive wall" (the area where the microbes were supposed to convert ammonia to nitrate and then to nitrogen gas, including sugar and O2 pumped into the ground to feed the microbes) came out meeting the target levels of ammonia and nitrate. It never even came close. (See letter from DERM). Some got through without being acted on. They would sometimes say the measurement should have been made within the "reaction", where perhaps a reduction could be measured, or very far away where the untreated leachate would be diluted by other cleaner water. With the traditional system, the "compliance" is measured where the effluent emerges from the treatment system, and before it would go back to the ground or other disposal area.
Mayor Burns has said: that the mangrove trees are healthy, so he doesn't see what the concern is. The concern was never for the trees themselves. The concern has always been for the animals, such as juvenile fish and marine invertebrates that breed around mangroves, which are killed by very high levels of ammonia. Also, the downstream areas of Biscayne Bay, and Arch Creek show evidence of nutrient enrichment where they intercept the leachate plume. That is why the ammonia and nitrate both have to be removed.
The in ground experiment did not even get close to the removal targets. The pump and treat system WILL remove the pollution from the ground and keep it from going to the mangroves and the bay.
NORTH MIAMI | BISCAYNE LANDING: Contaminated condo site gives up on sugar method
I was there during the bidding on the Munisport site, in the room!!! The developer chosen was suppose to pay for the cleanup knowing that $20 million would be kicked in. Watch Sally Heyman, she will try to get them more money at the request of Lobbyist/Lawyer Clifford Schulman. Here is the History again:
The County entered into an agreement involving a 20 million dollar grant from the county paid for by a solid waste department bond issue. We all pay $1 a year into a site cleanup fund.
Under the agreement, City of North Miami would receive 1 million dollars each year to assist in Munisport remediation and closure efforts. This was known to the all the developers who bid on the project: That this money was coming. They bid accordingly, knowing they might have to shoulder more cleanup costs.
This is what the bidders did NOT know: Much more money for cleanup would be coming. How do I know that the developers did not know this? I called one of the losing bidders and asked him. Had he known this, he said, his bid would have changed, however, that is water under the bridge.
In January 2004, the City Commission agreed to enter into a NEW agreement with the County, I believe it was to accept 49 million dollars (Curtis Morgan says $31 million), instead of of the 20 million already agreed on, which was to be used to clean up the landfill. With lots of lawyers involved, the new agreement would supercede the previous one. Rather than one million a year, the city would receive 3.6 million for the first 12 years. By the way, there are other contaminated sites waiting for money. This site has had more than its share.
Cleanup details:
They tried an experimental method underground, it didn’t work. Here is the truth about the DERM designed Biscayne Landing cleanup:
The developer has agreed (finally) to implement the originally approved remediation which involves pumping water out of the ground, treating it in conventional easily controlled above ground system. No water is "used" or wasted. North Miami Mayor Burns tried to suggest to me that pumping the contaminated leachate out of the ground is the same thing as pumping water out of the Biscayne Aquifer for drinking water supply. Obviously, it is not the same. Officials from the SFWMD were asked about this by the Mayor, and they explained that groundwater remediation is not the same as consumptive use and does not harm the water supply or cause salt intrusion. The treated leachate, if it is clean enough, could be returned to the ground, or it may go to the sewage treatment plant. The point is, it is not clean water being used, it is pollution being treated and any exposure pathway that would have affected sensitive organisms is interrupted.
Mayor Burns also told me: Derm was measuring in the wrong place.
The Truth: The point of compliance (where measurement would occur) was agreed upon before hand.
The idea was to make sure that groundwater passing by their experimental in-ground "reactive wall" (the area where the microbes were supposed to convert ammonia to nitrate and then to nitrogen gas, including sugar and O2 pumped into the ground to feed the microbes) came out meeting the target levels of ammonia and nitrate. It never even came close. (See letter from DERM). Some got through without being acted on. They would sometimes say the measurement should have been made within the "reaction", where perhaps a reduction could be measured, or very far away where the untreated leachate would be diluted by other cleaner water. With the traditional system, the "compliance" is measured where the effluent emerges from the treatment system, and before it would go back to the ground or other disposal area.
Mayor Burns has said: that the mangrove trees are healthy, so he doesn't see what the concern is. The concern was never for the trees themselves. The concern has always been for the animals, such as juvenile fish and marine invertebrates that breed around mangroves, which are killed by very high levels of ammonia. Also, the downstream areas of Biscayne Bay, and Arch Creek show evidence of nutrient enrichment where they intercept the leachate plume. That is why the ammonia and nitrate both have to be removed.
The in ground experiment did not even get close to the removal targets. The pump and treat system WILL remove the pollution from the ground and keep it from going to the mangroves and the bay.
Monday, September 10, 2007
Biscayne Landing/Munisport in Daily Business Review. by Geniusofdespair
This article by Oscar Pedro Muisibay speaks for itself: A Stink Surrounds It. I don't have much to add except: I am glad they are FINALLY cleaning the ammonia plume under the property. How they ever were allowed to build there not having cleaned the site first is a mystery to me. One other thing about the STINK: I don’t think the smell is from the mangroves. There is a water treatment plant just North of the site. When the wind blows South I am sure the smell from that plant is awful. You can smell it on Biscayne Blvd.
Saturday, August 04, 2007
Biscayne Times reports on Munisport/Biscayne Landing. by Geniusofdespair
Generally it is a good, accurate article about Biscayne Landing. The Art of Illusion.
A few small errors, such as the bid process. There were at least 3 or 4 developers that bid on the project, not just Swerdlow, the City of North Miami was seeking developers and Swerdlow's group responded to the RFP. I sat next to Otis Pitts during the presentations by the various bidders.
Second, there is a clean-up required of the ammonia plume that hasn't started because the developer is trying to lower the County's Department of Environmental Resource Management's Ammonia level requirement. The developers do not want to do the surface cleanup that DERM is demanding and haven't been able to get the Ammonia levels low enough doing it underground. Other agencies signed off years ago, leaving it to DERM, based on the cleanup that DERM proposed to oversee/get done before people moved onto the site. Nothing has been done to clean-up the plume. And, if you read the article, you will find: People are living on the site.
A few small errors, such as the bid process. There were at least 3 or 4 developers that bid on the project, not just Swerdlow, the City of North Miami was seeking developers and Swerdlow's group responded to the RFP. I sat next to Otis Pitts during the presentations by the various bidders.
Second, there is a clean-up required of the ammonia plume that hasn't started because the developer is trying to lower the County's Department of Environmental Resource Management's Ammonia level requirement. The developers do not want to do the surface cleanup that DERM is demanding and haven't been able to get the Ammonia levels low enough doing it underground. Other agencies signed off years ago, leaving it to DERM, based on the cleanup that DERM proposed to oversee/get done before people moved onto the site. Nothing has been done to clean-up the plume. And, if you read the article, you will find: People are living on the site.
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Miami Herald on Biscayne Landing by Geniusofdespair
Both are pretty good columns -- one a history of the Biscayne Landing Development and a history of the site problems when it was called Munisport. The second article is about the Biscayne Landing failed EXPERIMENTAL remediation.
I have some quibbles.... This is pretty much a lot more than an environmental story. And the environmental story is bigger with law firms and lobbyists feverously working the county, as you read, to change the agreed upon methods of cleanup. Lastly, the article is buried on Saturday when only dolts like me read the paper.
And Mayor Kevin Burns: You should be pushing for the cleanup not minimizing. This is too important. You know better. You should care that this is done right and that there are no corners cut. This is health of people and the environment. Stand up for that!
The colorful Michael Swerdlow, now infamous around Florida and New York with his deals, is hardly mentioned in the article. Take the money and run, is that it? Swerdlow engineered the whole deal. Has he left Brian Street's, Boca Developers, holding a very heavy lead weight? I did find a $50,000,000 mortgage that Swerdlow was holding on Biscayne Landing. Was that deal to dissolve the partnership or just part of it?
As I previously said, I was at the meetings when the bidders made presentations on their bid. It was very clear that the developers bid --- with the cleanup included in the bid. Again: The cleanup was part of the bid! (An aside: Affordable housing was also a main component of every presentation.)
In 1996, well before Swerdlow came along, the City and County entered into an agreement involving a 20 million dollar grant from the county paid by a solid waste department bond issue. Under this agreement, the city of North Miami would receive 1 million dollars each year to assist in Munisport remediation and closure efforts. All the bidders knew about this sum when they bid on the clean up and the development. That money comes from the WHOLE county.
In January 2004: the City Commission agreed to enter into a new agreement with the County to accept 49 million dollars, ostensibly to be used to clean up the landfill, this would supercede the previous $20 million which was already agreed upon.
There was a clause in the Biscayne Landing contract that required the City of North Miami to "request" additional funds. If the idiotic county didn't give it to them, the developer would have had to pay as required for the entire clean-up. The County instead gave them EXTRA funds (the magic of lobbying). So now thanks to a REAL LOT OF LOBBYING, headed by Clifford Schulman of Greenberg Trauig, rather than one million a year, the city --really Biscayne Landing since per a separate City/Biscayne Landing agreement the developer would do the cleanup-- would receive 3.6 million for the first 12 years.
In fact, according to a letter dated Sept. 1, 2004 from the South Florida Water Management District:
"the Environmental Resource permit issued by the District is only for conceptual approval. No construction has been authorized. When an application is filed for construction authorization, it must be consistent with any landfill closure requirements pursuant to the FDEP permit and groundwater remediation plan authorized by DERM."
Well SFWMD, did you sign off on construction without the groundwater remediation? There are two buildings out there. DERM had a groundwater remediation plan that was not followed because the developers tried to substitute the experimental remediation. The time period of that experimental remediation pilot study was extended, and extended and extended. Meanwhile people are moving in and the groundwater is still not cleaned and now LOBBYISTS are trying to get the remediation changed (the meeting next month that Reporter Morgan mentioned).
Now, according to the article, it might cost us all us county residents more. I don't think so. We are not making any of the profit (in this case it might be a loss) and I think $49,000,000 is plenty. Don't get suckered into paying more. The Morgan article states the ammonia level is 200 times greater than it should be. Let's clean it already. This has been going on far too long.
I remember when Mayor Frank Wolland wanted to make the whole site into one very large park and was talking to the county park's dept. about it. I liked that idea. Don't get me started on what they did with the affordable housing that was suppose to be included in the DRI. That really makes me mad. Ick.
See my previous post: Biscayne Landing: What's cooking underground?
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Biscayne Landing: What’s Cooking Underground? By Geniusofdespair
The FED’s delisted the superfund site (it had been an unregulated dump) prior to 1998 and left it to the County and City of North Miami to cleanup. The City and County entered in to a consent agreement in January 1998 to clean it up.
The ammonia laden water below ground was suppose to be cleaned by the developer per an agreement with North Miami years ago. The developer proposed an experimental cleanup instead of the cleanup designed by DERM. Didn’t work. I think the developer is now hoping for the old adage “The solution to pollution is dilution”: In other words, let the contaminated water mix in with the Biscayne Aquatic Preserve water enough, so maybe the levels will test lower and they will be spared the cleanup costs and worry: Hard to sell a half million dollar townhouse with a cleanup going on above ground just next door.
No water cleaned yet? Two high rise buildings built so far. What now?
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Biscayne Landing’s Wikipedia Entry Sanitized by PR Guy. by Geniusofdespair
John P. David, Boca Developer’s Public Relations guru spins history.
The first question you might ask is why does this development have a Wikipedia (on-line encyclopedia) entry at all. The second question is: Why did I drop a glass of water on my keyboard just now. I digress.
Well, as long as Biscayne Landing (former Munisport unregulated dump) has an entry in Wikipedia, it might as well be accurate right? You would think. (Also see my previous post and 22 comments: Must Read: Herald made a few mistakes on this one...)
There are dueling historians working on the entry, each editing the other. On the side of historical accuracy is Random Stuff. On the side of Public Relations spin is Public Relations guy John P. David. We know it is he, since he uses that name in his edits on Wikiipedia.
Here is what has been transpiring:
In January David said: Because Biscayne Landing is still under construction, with its first towers to be completed soon, this article will be regularly edited to reflect the latest changes to the master-planned community.
Random Stuff said to David in March 2007: Wikipedia is not meant to be used to advertise development projects, please do not remove sourced edits that point out negative aspects of this project.
Words in contention: Former “Superfund” site. David prefers “Landfill.”
Here is some of the language thaat David objected to:
There have been accusations by nearby residents that the studies performed to date were not thorough enough to rule out potential health threats of contaminents on the site. (Random Stuff included footnotes) [http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/HAC/pha/munisport/mlf_p2.html#_1_9 US Govt Rept from Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry]
and:
'''Biscayne Landing'' is a 193-acre [[master-planned community]] the site of [[Munisport Landfill]], a former [[superfund]] site and current [[brownfield]] area containing 6.2 million cubic yards of municipal, biohazardous, and industrial waste. [http://permanent.access.gpo.gov/lps21/c95a2130-1.html The International Congress on Hazardous Waste] It is being developed by [[Boca Developers]].
Here is the way it reads now (with John P. David’s input):
Environmental Background
Biscayne Landing’s environmental standing is described as "brownfield," which the government defines as property for which the expansion, redevelopment or reuse may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of contaminants. For several years, a portion of the property included a permitted site for construction waste, although there are issues of illegal dumping in this area (see the article on Munisport Landfill for further information). The site has undergone several studies since the 1980s by the EPA and other agencies, and all of the studies performed have concluded that it poses no threat to human health or habitation. The studies also concluded that ammonia in the groundwater at the site potentially represented a threat to the environmentally sensitive mangrove preserve, but did not threaten public health or welfare. There have been accusations by nearby residents that the studies performed to date were not thorough enough to rule out potential health threats of contaminents on the site. [1]
So, the moral of this story is:
Approach Wikipeda information with reservation and always keep an extra keyboard on hand if you insist on keeping a water glass on your desk.
The first question you might ask is why does this development have a Wikipedia (on-line encyclopedia) entry at all. The second question is: Why did I drop a glass of water on my keyboard just now. I digress.
Well, as long as Biscayne Landing (former Munisport unregulated dump) has an entry in Wikipedia, it might as well be accurate right? You would think. (Also see my previous post and 22 comments: Must Read: Herald made a few mistakes on this one...)
There are dueling historians working on the entry, each editing the other. On the side of historical accuracy is Random Stuff. On the side of Public Relations spin is Public Relations guy John P. David. We know it is he, since he uses that name in his edits on Wikiipedia.
Here is what has been transpiring:
In January David said: Because Biscayne Landing is still under construction, with its first towers to be completed soon, this article will be regularly edited to reflect the latest changes to the master-planned community.
Random Stuff said to David in March 2007: Wikipedia is not meant to be used to advertise development projects, please do not remove sourced edits that point out negative aspects of this project.
Words in contention: Former “Superfund” site. David prefers “Landfill.”
Here is some of the language thaat David objected to:
There have been accusations by nearby residents that the studies performed to date were not thorough enough to rule out potential health threats of contaminents on the site. (Random Stuff included footnotes) [http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/HAC/pha/munisport/mlf_p2.html#_1_9 US Govt Rept from Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry]
and:
'''Biscayne Landing'' is a 193-acre [[master-planned community]] the site of [[Munisport Landfill]], a former [[superfund]] site and current [[brownfield]] area containing 6.2 million cubic yards of municipal, biohazardous, and industrial waste. [http://permanent.access.gpo.gov/lps21/c95a2130-1.html The International Congress on Hazardous Waste] It is being developed by [[Boca Developers]].
Here is the way it reads now (with John P. David’s input):
Environmental Background
Biscayne Landing’s environmental standing is described as "brownfield," which the government defines as property for which the expansion, redevelopment or reuse may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of contaminants. For several years, a portion of the property included a permitted site for construction waste, although there are issues of illegal dumping in this area (see the article on Munisport Landfill for further information). The site has undergone several studies since the 1980s by the EPA and other agencies, and all of the studies performed have concluded that it poses no threat to human health or habitation. The studies also concluded that ammonia in the groundwater at the site potentially represented a threat to the environmentally sensitive mangrove preserve, but did not threaten public health or welfare. There have been accusations by nearby residents that the studies performed to date were not thorough enough to rule out potential health threats of contaminents on the site. [1]
So, the moral of this story is:
Approach Wikipeda information with reservation and always keep an extra keyboard on hand if you insist on keeping a water glass on your desk.
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